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A doubling of Macquarie’s presence in the third-party space has coincided with a doubling in its mortgage portfolio growth over the June quarter.
An analysis of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) monthly banking statistics over the three months ending 30 June 2019 has revealed that Macquarie Bank’s residential mortgage portfolio growth was tied to an increase in its share of the third-party channel.
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According to the APRA data, Macquarie’s portfolio increased by $1.2 billion to $36.8 billion in the June quarter, driven by a $900 million spike in its owner-occupied book, which grew from $23.3 billion to $24.2 billion.
Macquarie’s investment portfolio increased by $300 million over the same period, from $12.3 billion to $12.6 billion.
Macquarie’s portfolio growth doubled when compared to the same quarter in 2018, in which its home loan book increased by approximately $600 million.
The bank’s quarterly spike coincided with a doubling of its share of the broker channel.
According to the Australian Finance Group’s (AFG) mortgage and competition index for the June quarter – which is based off data collected by the aggregator’s network of 3,000 brokers – Macquarie’s share of the broker channel increased from 4.9 per cent to 9.7 per cent.
As at 30 June 2019, Macquarie’s share of the broker space ranked second overall, behind only the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) which holds a 17.7 per cent share of the broker channel (excluding its subsidiary Bankwest).
Big four’s fortunes varied over the June quarter
Macquarie took ANZ’s second place spot in AFG’s ranking, with the major bank’s share of the broker space slipping from 8.8 per cent to 8.5 per cent over the June quarter, taking it to fourth place in the ranking.
A decline in ANZ’s share of the third-party channel coincided with a sharp contraction in its mortgage book, which decreased by $3.2 billion over the June quarter, from $256.8 billion to $253.6 billion.
ANZ’s mortgage book haemorrhaged in both the owner-occupied and investor segments, which contracted by $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott has previously attributed the bank’s weakened position in the mortgage market to a “conscious” decision to revise its home lending strategy, as well as a “clumsy” reaction to regulatory scrutiny, adding that ANZ “overshot” in its policy response.
NAB also recorded a contraction in its portfolio over the June quarter – albeit less pronounced than ANZ – with a $400 million increase in NAB’s owner-occupied book offset by a $700 million decline in its investment portfolio, reducing its total book by $300 million to $260.8 billion.
However, NAB’s share of the broker channel increased over the same period, from 5 per cent to 7.3 per cent.
In contrast to ANZ and NAB, APRA’s data revealed that CBA (including Bankwest) and Westpac (including its subsidiaries Bank of Melbourne, BankSA, and St.George Bank) reported sharp increases in their respective mortgage portfolios.
CBA’s mortgage portfolio increased by $5.8 billion over the June quarter, from $429.8 billion to $435.6 billion, spurred by a $5 billion increase in its owner-occupied book, which grew to $301.9 billion, while its investment portfolio grew $800 million to $133.7 billion.
CBA’s portfolio growth coincided with an increase in its share of the broker channel, which, when including Bankwest, grew to over a quarter of the market (25.1 per cent).
Westpac also recorded a significant increase in its home lending portfolio over the June quarter, rising by $4.8 billion to $419.3 billion, mostly driven by a $3.6 billion increase in its owner-occupied book, which rose to $265.8 billion.
Westpac’s investment portfolio increased by $1.2 billion to $153.5 billion over the same period.
However, Westpac’s share of the broker channel fell sharply in the three months to 30 June 2019, from 22.8 per cent to 14.8 per cent over the same period.
